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Listen "The story of GAMMA - from a start-up to a billion pound company"
Episode Synopsis
Bob Falconer, former CEO and Richard Bligh, former CO, are two of the UK Telecom’s industries best known figures of the last two decades. They explain how they took a business with c£3 million revenue to a valuation of £1.5 billion before they finally stood down.
They made a visionary decision, about 15 years ago: the future of phone calls will be over the internet rather than using conventional Telecoms networks. The success of GAMMA in the B2B market has been extraordinary.
At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this remarkable story – one of the few examples ever of a business floating on the London Stock Exchange and then the share price increasing over 10x.
Bob and Richard explain:
▪️ How they hit £100m revenue in 3 years and then decided they were in the wrong part of the market
▪️ How they had about 5,000 salespeople – without paying a salary to any of them
▪️ How they used an imaginary customer ‘Tracy’ as their guiding light
▪️ How keeping IT systems simple is key to rapid growth
▪️ How an obsession with refining their products constantly was key to keeping growth going
▪️ How a forward-looking investor played a critical part in their success
00:00 - Welcome and Hosts Intro
01:58 - Acquiring Distressed Assets: The Atlantic Telecom Story
03:11 - From Asset Acquisition to a Viable Business Model
09:30 - Meet 'Tracy', The Mythical Customer That Drove Success
13:10 - The Visionary Pivot to Voice Over Internet
16:07 - Exploiting Incumbent Weakness: The Innovator's Dilemma
18:10 - The Strategic Rationale for an Initial Public Offering (IPO)
19:35 - Our Sponsor: NETS International
21:25 - The Indirect Sales Model: Scaling Through Channel Partners
28:00 - The Strategic Advantage of a Focused Product Portfolio
33:00 - Cornerstones of Company Culture
38:48 - Ian and Chris’s Takeaways
Bob Falconer is now retired. Follow Richard Bligh:
LinkedIn - com/in/rbligh
Billionaire Business:
Website: billionairebusiness.net
Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/billionaire-business-podcast/?viewAsMember=true
Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick
HARDBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B0FLD5Q8Z5/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title
PAPERBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B08735HP2W/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title
KINDLE https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without-ebook/dp/B08738NVS8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2VOX3UKOWGT6R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jGqkZxFG3WEufxz7M-1iVgGElqr83rgD-VAM-9WLfXz4fii5xR10ZsWDNVlnOGAfLdZG4lksR0cCtaRyzjKlwxD8Gh4WKr2ZP8TuayLmYBiPqNWQi66IAM3QDfoxZeEa.ZUymM2LEtrzNGeYhyP9yoJQknWJe8w7LOx6GDaS6ano&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+street-smart+mba&qid=1755704706&sprefix=the+street-smart+mba%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-2
Sponsors for Series 1:
NETS International - https://nets-international.com
They made a visionary decision, about 15 years ago: the future of phone calls will be over the internet rather than using conventional Telecoms networks. The success of GAMMA in the B2B market has been extraordinary.
At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this remarkable story – one of the few examples ever of a business floating on the London Stock Exchange and then the share price increasing over 10x.
Bob and Richard explain:
▪️ How they hit £100m revenue in 3 years and then decided they were in the wrong part of the market
▪️ How they had about 5,000 salespeople – without paying a salary to any of them
▪️ How they used an imaginary customer ‘Tracy’ as their guiding light
▪️ How keeping IT systems simple is key to rapid growth
▪️ How an obsession with refining their products constantly was key to keeping growth going
▪️ How a forward-looking investor played a critical part in their success
00:00 - Welcome and Hosts Intro
01:58 - Acquiring Distressed Assets: The Atlantic Telecom Story
03:11 - From Asset Acquisition to a Viable Business Model
09:30 - Meet 'Tracy', The Mythical Customer That Drove Success
13:10 - The Visionary Pivot to Voice Over Internet
16:07 - Exploiting Incumbent Weakness: The Innovator's Dilemma
18:10 - The Strategic Rationale for an Initial Public Offering (IPO)
19:35 - Our Sponsor: NETS International
21:25 - The Indirect Sales Model: Scaling Through Channel Partners
28:00 - The Strategic Advantage of a Focused Product Portfolio
33:00 - Cornerstones of Company Culture
38:48 - Ian and Chris’s Takeaways
Bob Falconer is now retired. Follow Richard Bligh:
LinkedIn - com/in/rbligh
Billionaire Business:
Website: billionairebusiness.net
Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/billionaire-business-podcast/?viewAsMember=true
Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick
HARDBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B0FLD5Q8Z5/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title
PAPERBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B08735HP2W/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title
KINDLE https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without-ebook/dp/B08738NVS8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2VOX3UKOWGT6R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jGqkZxFG3WEufxz7M-1iVgGElqr83rgD-VAM-9WLfXz4fii5xR10ZsWDNVlnOGAfLdZG4lksR0cCtaRyzjKlwxD8Gh4WKr2ZP8TuayLmYBiPqNWQi66IAM3QDfoxZeEa.ZUymM2LEtrzNGeYhyP9yoJQknWJe8w7LOx6GDaS6ano&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+street-smart+mba&qid=1755704706&sprefix=the+street-smart+mba%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-2
Sponsors for Series 1:
NETS International - https://nets-international.com
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